Readjustments
by love4funny
Summary: With Connor's moving back in, can his and Abby's relationship go back to the way it was before? Epilogue to If This Is It.
1. Sacrifices

I bit into my piece of pizza, watching out of the corner of my eye as Connor got up to finish the last of the pepperoni.

_The perfect opportunity…_I thought to myself. I grabbed the remote control from his end of the sofa, scrambling to hit the return button before he sat back down.

"Abby?" he asked me, collapsing into the cushions on the other side of the sofa. "Hmmm?"

"What happened to Doctor Who?" He watched with a look of disgust on his face as Coronation Street came back from the commercial break.

"Connor," I whined. "Could we please, for just this once, watch something that I want to watch?"

"Oh, come on, Abs. It's a marathon," he pleaded, very much resembling a little boy as he looked with sad eyes.

I briefly turned back to Doctor Who, turning to see his lips spread into a wide grin and his eyes light up.

"Even I've seen this one," I grumbled, even though I set the controller down on the arm of the sofa. "Twice," I added.

"Thank you, Abby," he whispered, being careful not to talk any louder than the tellie. "No problem," I said softly, stealing his second slice of pizza off of his plate.

"Hey! I was going to eat that!" Connor complained, momentarily missing Doctor Who to stare at me with a startled look on his face.

"We all have to make sacrifices, Connor."

* * *

If you are reading this right now, then thank you sooooo much for reading my fanfic! I love each and every one of you so much! I really want to know what you think, so can you please please review and make me feel special (that doesn't mean you have to say it's "amazing, this is really really good!!!!!!!!!" And please please please please please tell me if I said anything that's not British, after all I am American, and I really don't know if I made any mistakes or not, please let me know! :D

Patty


	2. Volunteering

After about an hour of watching tellie, I got up to go and get ready for bed.

As I took myself a well-needed shower after a very long day, I had to ask myself.

Where exactly was Connor planning on sleeping tonight? We both knew he couldn't go up in the loft, what with his ankle and all. So that meant he would have to sleep downstairs. That left two choices, one being on the sofa, and the second being in my bed.

I went into the closet for an extra blanket and grabbed my pillow off of my bed, turning off the lights and closing the door behind me as I carried them into the sitting room. Connor shot me a confused look as I walked in and nonchalantly sat down with my pillow and blanket.

"Um, Abs?" he asked, looking extremely concerned as he watched me set up my makeshift bed. "Hmmm?"

"Why have you brought half your bed in here?" I couldn't help but laugh at how worried he was.

"Because I'm going to bed," I answered softly, yawning as I propped my feet up on his lap.

"In here," he said slowly, as if trying to grasp what I was saying. "On the couch?" "Yeah. Why not?" I asked, intent on knowing why it mattered so much to him where I was sleeping.

"Well, for starters, you've got a perfectly good bed in there," he said, pointing to the closed door to my bedroom.

"But you're sleeping in there," I told him, watching as his face momentarily lit up, then fell. "But what about you?"

I rolled my eyes half-heartedly. "Connor, I could've sworn we've just had this conversation." He blinked at me. "In here?" he asked again. I couldn't understand why it was so difficult for him to believe.

"Yes, Connor, in here," I chuckled, nodding. "But why?" He asked me.

_Oh God_, I thought. "Well," I started, watching his face for any signs that I was beginning to offend him in any way. "I just thought that, with your ankle…Well, we both know that you can't go upstairs any time soon…And you have had a rougher day than I have…You deserve the bed, Connor."

"Okay," he said, grinning. "Okay?" I asked, surprised he hadn't decided he'd wanted to delve deeper into my reason Why.

He nodded. "But Abby?" "Yeah?" He cocked his head like he was thinking extremely hard about something. "Just one question." "Yeah. What is it?" I chuckled at how quickly we had managed to get ourselves off topic.

"How am I going to get my clothes?" he asked me. I was confused at first. "Your clothes…" "To sleep in," he explained, surprisingly not staring me down like I was daft. "If I can't go upstairs…And I can't sleep in this, now can I?" he said, turning so that I could see what he was wearing.

"No, Connor, I guess you can't," I said softly. "What were you planning on wearing?" I asked, silently volunteering myself to go and get some of his clothes from the loft.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe just a t-shirt and…probably some boxers," he answered, watching to see my reaction.

"Boxers," I repeated, trying my best to sound disgusted. "Alright," I sighed. "I'll be right back," I said, getting up to go up to the loft.

"Oh no, Abs, you don't have to," Connor told me, starting to get up himself but having to sit back down when he realised how badly it hurt to stand.

"No, it's fine. I don't mind," I lied, seeing him grin soon after.

"Aw, thanks, Abs," he said, continuing to grin at me as I walked upstairs.


	3. The Loft

The loft, originally used for storage purposes only, was now littered with Connor's dirty clothes. The bed, which had once been kept pristine, was unmade and sloppy, and the bedclothes had been stained with God-knows-what.

When Jack had persuaded me to let him stay, I had kept him out of the loft for the lone purpose of him not seeing all of this. He knew me to be responsible and on top of everything, including cleaning my flat.

I scanned the room for the dresser I had put up there a while back, when Connor had first moved in, with hopes that he would actually use it. I finally found it, leaning against the far wall, clothing peeking out of the tops of all of the drawers. "Great," I sighed, walking over to the dresser.

The first drawer, after I managed to get it unstuck and open, was filled with socks, the majority of them dirty and torn. I picked up one of the few pairs that was in good condition, plain gray and white, even though I knew damn well he hadn't specifically asked for any.

I searched the rest of the dresser drawers for a t-shirt and boxers, coming up empty-handed in the end.

I took a quick look round the room, paying close attention to the carious articles of clothing that lay scattered across the floor.

I rolled my eyes in disbelief, annoyed at the fact that after searching through a whole dresser, I was stuck pawing through Connor's dirty clothes.

After going through the first pile, I came out only with a t-shirt, a gray v-neck, which had been in the best shape out of the whole lot. This still left me with only one thing…

I made my way over to the next set of clothes, still in search of a pair of boxers.

I finally stumbled up on a lone pair of boxers, white with red dots, allowing me to go back downstairs, Connor's clothes in hand.


	4. Immunity

"Never again," I grumbled, handing Connor his clothes as soon as I reached the sofa.

"Oh, what is it, Abs?" he asked jokingly, gladly taking the clothes back from me.

"I feel like I need to go and wash my hands now," I complained, looking at him with mock disgust. "I'm unsanitary."

"It can't be that bad," he said, grinning at me as I sat down next to him.

"Or maybe you're just immune to it," I joked, pretending to be engrossed in the tellie.

"I need to go and change," he started, an amused look lighting up his face. "Well, go on then," I told him, reaching across his lap for the remote control so that I could turn the channel as soon as he left.

"But, see, here's the thing…" I looked over at him. "Oh, God, don't tell me. I'm coming."


	5. Negotiating

"Can I turn around yet?" I asked him, trying my hardest to ignore the fact that I could still just barely see him out of the corner of my eye.

"Nope. Not yet," he answered. I heard him stumble and fall behind me, tempting me to turn around, before I managed to stop myself.

"Are you okay?" I asked, loudly, having to turn my head to make sure he heard me.

"Yeah, I will be," he said, as he, from what I could hear, struggled to get back up. "Okay."

"Okay what?" I asked. "Okay, you can turn back around now."

"Oh. Right." I turned to see him, just as I thought, trying to use a chair leg to pull himself up.

"Connor?" I held out a hand, knowing he would eagerly take it once it came to his attention.

He quickly got back up, with my help, grinning and thanking me soon after.

I watched him as he grabbed the other pillow from my bed. "What's that for?" I asked him, looking at him confusedly.

"Well, I just figured that…since I was already planning on sleeping there anyway…Do you think that there is any possible way that we could both sleep on the sofa?"

"Connor!" I whined. "Now you tell me-" "So I'm guessing that's a no…"

"No, Connor, I'm sorry. It's fine," I apologised, realising how harsh I had sounded just now.

"Really?" His face instantly lit up, like a child's on Christmas morning. "I mean…are you sure?"

I nodded. "Really, I don't mind," I assured him, smiling sweetly at him.

"Aw, thanks, Abs," he said enthusiastically, moving towards me to give me a celebratory hug.

"I don't know if we have another blanket," I told him, trying my hardest to stay serious, even though I had to at least crack a smile.

"Oh, that's alright," he said, waving the thought away with his hand. "You've got one, though, yeah?" He grinned mischievously at me. "Yes, Connor, I do." He turned and left for the sitting room, winking at me as he continued to grin from ear to ear.


	6. Goodnights

"Connor?" I walked into the sitting room to find him, taking up the whole sofa, covered up with the blanket I'd had to fetch from the closet. "What exactly are you doing?" I asked, glancing quickly back towards the television as I spoke.

"Right, sorry. I was starting to get tired of Doctor Who, anyway. I mean, you can only watch so much time travel in a day, yeah?"

"Yeah," I said softly, collapsing on the sofa in what little space there was in front of him, before he moved back to his half of the sofa.

"Connor?" I asked, resting my head on his chest as I suddenly realised how tired I had gotten. "Hmmm?"

"Thank you," I told him, looking up at him to see his reaction, which was, as I expected, one of confusion and surprise. "For what?"

"For…today," I explained. "You would actually risk your life for mine?"

He smiled. "Of course I would, Abs. The question is…would you have done the same for me?"

I nodded at him. "Yeah. Yeah, I would have. No doubt about it," I answered softly.

"Did you miss me, Abby?" Connor asked me, watching me as he spoke.

"Yeah, Connor, I did. It was starting to get awfully boring around here, with just me and Rex." "But you had Jack," he interrupted, looking down at me with tired eyes.

"Jack," I snorted. "Load of help he is. Would you believe how-" "Yes."

I laughed, ignoring the fact that he hadn't even known what I was going to say. "You know, Connor, we really should be glad for that. If he'd never gone through my bag, then he'd probably still be here. And you'd still be living at Lester's."

"Who said anything about me not being glad?" he said, looking slightly shocked at my assumption.

"Well, I did miss you, Connor," I said, trying to change the subject. "In all honesty, I actually enjoy having you around."

His face lit up again. "Really?" he asked, grinning at me. "Really," I repeated him, nodding.

"Still just as a friend?" I heard him ask me, causing me to think over my answer.

"Well, that depends," I replied, watching as a surprised, hopeful look came across his face. "On what?"

"On what I've decided in the morning," I said, leaning in to give him a quick peck on the cheek and pulling the blanket over myself as I got more comfortable.

"Do you want your pillow, Abs?" Connor asked me, reaching over me to get it. "Oh, no. It's fine," I answered, taking his hand and settling it back onto his lap.

"So…am I comfy?" he asked me, maintaining a goofy grin as he spoke.

"You'll do," I chuckled, finding myself smiling along with him.

"Night, Abs," I heard him say softly, as he adjusted the blanket so that it fit around the both of us. "Good night," I repeated, already beginning to fall asleep.

"Oh, and Connor?" He looked down at me, surprised I hadn't stopped talking and gotten to sleep yet. "Hmmm?"

"I figured I should give you fair warning. If I dream of Doctor Who, then, mark my words, you'll be personally blamed."


End file.
